


Together

by poppycurls



Category: Doctor Who, Doctor Who (2005)
Genre: Emotional Hurt/Comfort, F/M, Fluff, Fluff and Angst, Gen, One Shot, i like hurting people in my fics, ten/rose friendship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-01
Updated: 2014-04-01
Packaged: 2018-01-17 20:06:32
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,250
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1400794
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/poppycurls/pseuds/poppycurls
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Some nights, it’s better to be alone. Others, though, you might need someone to hold you and tell you that everything’s going to be okay.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Together

She was dreaming.

Before she climbed into that blue box, Rose dreamed about everything, letting her mind go where she could not. Now, she hardly ever dreamed. Whether this was due to deep sleep or no need to dream, because she really could go anywhere, she never knew. But Rose Tyler dreamed now, of home.

In the dream, Jackie walked around the kitchen, gathering the ingredients needed to make a bowl of soup. She was talking rather animatedly about the new guy who had moved in down the street, her face unable to hide a grin. In the dream, Rose was sitting down in a chair, not really listening to her mother, just enjoying the feeling of being home. Already, the soup smelled just as bad as Jackie’s cooking always did, with the musty smell of old newspapers and Pete’s odd stuff combined. Outside, the cars flew by, with their loud screeches, mixed in with the noise of children playing and sobbing.

Wait.

Sobbing? No, that wasn’t right.

Rose sat up in bed, running a hand through her dishevelled hair and blinking sleep from her eyes. It took a minute to gather her surroundings, but when she did, she found herself in one of the spare bedrooms near the back of the TARDIS. The walls were yellow, and the room was fairly bare save for a chest of drawers, mirror, and the bed. It made sense, though. Travelling with the Doctor didn’t leave much time for just sitting down and relaxing. Rose still hadn’t unpacked, her large red backpack sitting near the foot of the bed.

“Doctor?” She called, ripping the covers off herself. The crying was now louder, coming from somewhere near the console room. Maybe something had found it’s way inside the TARDIS. It was unlikely, but still possible.

Rose unsuccessfully got herself out of bed, instead tripping on the covers and landing on her face. The second time, though, she got up and ran out of the small room, heading for the front of the time machine, not really caring that she was in her pajamas.

“Doctor? I think there’s something wrong wi-” She stopped talking as she ran into the front area.

Oh, God.

The Doctor was sitting in a corner, knees drawn up to his chest, still fully clothed. Rose could see the top of his head, crowned with his unmanageable hair, sticking out from his suit.

She had never actually seen (or heard) the Doctor cry before. Not in his new form, at least. Even in his ninth, the Doctor hardly ever cried, and when he did, it was only a few tears, never full-out sobbing. Now, come to think of it, Rose realized that almost every time the Ninth Doctor cried, it was all due to physical pain, not emotional pain. This explained why Rose didn’t recognize the sound straight away.

She jolted, realizing she had been standing next to the control panel, just staring. That wouldn’t do.

Moving quickly, the blonde picked up the discarded sonic screwdriver from the floor, fiddling with the switches until she found the right setting. She headed over to the crouched Time Lord, waving the sonic in his general area.

Physically, he was fine.

Sticking the silver instrument in her top pocket, Rose walked over to him, her steps light and slow. “Doctor?”

No response. He didn’t even notice that his companion was in the room.

She sat down next to him. What does one do when their alien friend suddenly breaks down for no apparent reason why floating in the middle of whatever galaxy in a bigger-on-the-inside time machine?

Rose tentatively placed one hand on his far shoulder, trying not to startle him.

Instead, he relaxed into her touch, recognizing her presence. The endless sobbing continued, but at least it was an improvement. Rose took that as an invitation to wrap her arms around the Doctor’s back, pressing her face in between his rather bony shoulder blades. Neither of them said anything for a while.

Rose was afraid to speak, instead leaving it up to the Doctor to decide whether or not they were going to talk. After a while, he lifted his head up long enough to whisper “I just can’t”, then bury it back in his knees.

“Can’t what?” she needed to know what he was talking about. Couldn’t tell her what was wrong?

“I can’t keep doing this, Rose. All the lives that are lost, because of my doing… I’m a murderer. I’ve committed genocide before, Rose. How can I live with millions of dead people on my back?”

“But you’re doing it for good.”

“It doesn't matter. I’ve killed people.”

“Killing is different than not saving.”

“Not saving is only half the deaths,” he murmured, still shaking.

“But look at yourself, Doctor. You’re sitting here, feeling bad! If you were a really bad person, you’d go and kill some more people!”

The Doctor raised his head slowly, looking at her.

Rose bit the inside of her cheek. “Sorry, that sounded better in my head.”

He sighed, not bothering to wipe out the tears still streaming down his face. He was about to put his head back in his arms when Rose cupped his face in her hands, forcing him to look at her.

“No. Stop. Listen to me. You are one of the most amazing people that has ever walked the universe, and your name, Doctor, is remembered by everyone as a hero. You’re brilliant and you try so hard just to make the universe a better place. There’s nobody like you-nobody who’d risk so much just to help others. Both you and I know that every life lost, every sacrifice made, wasn’t in vain, but they were essential to save something else, something bigger and more important. Everybody knew that, Doctor. They were all so happy to help the man who could do so much, who could be so amazing.”

The Doctor closed his eyes, letting his companion’s words wash over him. When he opened them again, Rose had her hands on his shoulders, staring at him intently.

“Better?” Her voice was quiet.

He paused for a bit, then answered her. “Getting there.”

“Good.” She nodded, more to herself than him. They sat in silence for a bit, each thinking. It was Rose who finally pointed out “There’s something on your jacket, Doctor.”

“Yeah. It’s oil. I was working on the TARDIS and it spat at me.”

“Well, better take it off, then, so it can be washed.”

The Gallifreyan nodded numbly, allowing Rose to ease the soiled coat off his shoulders. She stood up, putting the beloved pinstriped jacket over one arm. The Doctor took a deep, steadying breath, hugging himself.

“Go sit by the doors, okay? I’m going to put this away,” she gestured toward the jacket. “And then I’m going to go find a few things. I’ll be right back, promise.”

“What are you getting?”

“It’s a surprise.”

They left, him heading toward the front of the time machine while she headed toward the back.

After fifteen or so minutes, Rose was back, without the long jacket and with a brown box, topped with two steaming mugs.

“What have you got there?” The Doctor asked, looking up at her.

“A box of feel better things.”

“Feel better things.” In spite of himself, he couldn’t help but roll his eyes.

“Well, that’s what Mum always used to call them. There really isn’t any other way to describe it. They’re there to make you feel better.” She reached out, pushing open the TARDIS doors. “I’m letting in some fresh air.”

“We’re in the middle of space, Rose. Opening the doors will keep giving you the air that the TARDIS has,” he said, rather quietly.

“Stop trying to be smart. You know what I meant.” She sat down next to him, pulling his hand so that they both sat on the edge of the TARDIS, with their legs dangling off. Reaching into the box next to her, Rose pulled out a giant quilt, wrapping it around her friend’s shoulders.

“Where’d you find this?”

“In the linens closet. That has to be the biggest and warmest blanket in the universe. Where’d you get it?”

“Some Slitheens gave it to me.” When Rose looked reproachful, he quickly added, “Not all are bad, you know. Most are really nice. We just happened to run into the ones that wanted to take over Earth.”

She smiled, handing him a cup of tea.

“Tea.”

“I’m British, Doctor. Tea fixes everything.”

“It’s not bad tea, either.”

Rose beamed at him.

“So, what else have you got in that magical box?”

“Ice cream and stickers.”

He almost choked on his tea. “Okay, ice cream, I understand. But stickers? What are you going to do with stickers?”

“This!” She peeled one off the sheet and stuck it on his forehead. This resulted in him grabbing the sheet from her and covering her arm with little flowers. Within the next five minutes, both were surrounded by empty sticker sheets and covered with stars, trucks, weird space-y things, and animals and aliens of every shape and size. Neither could stop laughing.

“See?” Rose asked, gasping for breath as she took in the ridiculousness of their situation. “And you doubted that these would make you feel better. How dare you judge stickers!”

The Doctor doubled over he was laughing so hard. “Can we have the ice cream now?” he asked hopefully.

“You know, for a nine hundred and three-year-old, you do a really good job of acting like you’re six.”

“Please?” Rose sighed playfully, giving in. “Finish your tea first.”

And so time passed, with various containers of flavored ice cream, two cups of tea, and lots of laughing and talking. Somehow, the stickers had found their way on the doors, and the Doctor and Rose had found themselves with the Raxacoricofallapatorian blanket wrapped around both of them. After giving an interesting story about her high school math teacher- who The Doctor insisted sounded like one of the creatures that lived in the center of the fifty-second sun-, Rose found the Doctor’s arms wrapped unexpectedly around her, pulling her in.

“Thank you,” he breathed into her ear, pressing the side of his face against the top of her head.

“For what? I didn’t do anything.” This came out as slightly muffled, because her face was in his shoulder.

“For being here.”

“I’ll always be here for you. Even if it means getting up in the middle of the night to have tea and ice cream.”

He took a quick intake of breath, hugging her harder, refusing to let go.

Both of them fell asleep like that.

When the Doctor woke up again, both he and Rose were sprawled on the floor, lying in the middle of the mess. He got up slowly, taking mind his stiff legs from sleeping funny, and went over to her. She was fast asleep, her blonde hair all over her face. He brushed back the stands, then started cleaning up the mess from last night’s little adventure. Now, even though it was morning according to the TARDIS, the sky outside was still dark blue and purple. He took the stickers off the doors, humming as he did so, and picked up the cups and spoon and carried them to the kitchen. The Doctor stopped on the way back to the console room to change out of his clothes and into his pajamas, grabbing a huge pillow.

When he came back to Rose, he picked the blanket up off the ground, folding it in half, so that it could be used both a mattress and a blanket. Gently, he carried and tucked Rose into her makeshift bed, then, after a slight hesitation, crawled in behind her, on his side,so that he could face the open time machine doors. Rose pressed her back against his chest, waking as she caught one of his hands in her own.

“Hey.” She sounded dead tired, but rather happy that the Time Lord was here with her.

“I’m sorry, I can leave.”

“Don’t you dare.”

He wrapped an arm around the girl, holding her close. It meant the world to him, no, it meant the entire universe to him, that Rose had been there for him when he needed her most.

“Rose?”

“Mmm?”

“I lo-”

“You don’t need to say it. And mutual.”

“Okay.” He kissed her hair.

The next morning, when the two of them awoke, neither of them said anything about the night before, though this might have been due to the TARDIS getting a distress signal from a nearby ship, and things escalating quickly from there. The event wasn’t spoken of until the next night, when the Doctor stopped Rose on her way to her room, asking rather awkwardly if she could stay with him again. She said yes, and the two of them drifted off to sleep, side by side.

This didn’t happen every night, but through a non-verbal agreement, whenever one of the duo was looking a little down, the other would stay the night with them.

It helped to have someone to wake up to in the morning, to be there even when everything else was a bit… wibbly-wobbly. They treasured these nights and mornings together, just Rose Tyler and her Doctor, because each of them knew, in the back of their minds, that there might come a day where one would wake without the other.

**Author's Note:**

> Well, I couldn't have the Doctor say that he loves her, because that was the point. He never said it. Only kinda sorta. 
> 
> Anyway not my first fanfic but the first I'm letting other people read. (I might be panicking. Just a little.)
> 
> I'm not super proud of this, maybe if I have time I will go back and fix. 
> 
> Also bad title. Help. 
> 
> All rights belong to the BBC.
> 
> TTFN!


End file.
